Intimate Economies of Immigration Detention ─ Critical Perspectives

Governments worldwide increasingly view detention of immigrants as fundamental to efforts to control migration flows. This is both in response to concerns regarding security and sovereignty, and in order to help manage labour in fragile post-recession economies.

Recent years have also seen an expansion in the role of private actors who view detention as a vehicle for profitmaking. This volume brings together an international group of scholars in order to explore privatization and devolution at the micro-level. Presenting original research from the Americas, Australia and Europe, the book shows how detention and privatization impact on both personal experiences and broader political-economic, social and cultural spheres. The volume will be of interest to scholars and students across human geography, political economy, criminology, sociology, anthropology, and political science.

Deirdre Conlon is a lecturer in critical human geography at the University of Leeds, UK.

Nancy Heimstra is Assistant Professor of Migration Studies, Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory, Stony Brook University, USA.